Dave Collins of Software Promotions at BoS Conference USA 2016.
See all talks here: http://businessofsoftware.org/2016/07/all-talks-from-business-of-software-conferences-in-one-place-saas-software-talks/
122. “About 11 months ago, we published a post that took
somewhere in the vicinity of 180 hours to research and write.
It's 12,000 words and a 59-minute read.
It's on a subject we knew people wanted us to cover:
copywriting formulas. ”
123. Shared: >4700 times
Comments >130
It ranks first for the phrase “copywriting formulas” (!)
It gets several thousand page views a month
The average time on that page is 5 minutes 23 seconds
We get emails thanking us for it regularly
It's generated 1000s of subscribers
124. “I've spent what may add up to a year's worth of time writing
posts few will ever see or care about.”
125. “But the body of work we're building here is
bigger than the individual posts…”
126.
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133.
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135. - Easier to write
- Better feedback
- More engagement
- Less unsubscribes
136.
137. Hey did you see that awesome post
on the Buffer blog this morning?
174. The Lost Art of
Meaningful Content:
Choose a better way
@The DaveCollins
Notas do Editor
Smart & ambitious - early adopter of affiliate system & SEO
Demand +, #1 competition, sales grew 5x in 15 months
Grew dev team & product range
REAL site and help altavista
PageRank & the more links the better
The era of hacking everything
100 -> 10,000 ->
184 billion! 2.2 million a second!
Nowadays I engage in the noble art of SEO…
No sarcasm…
Back to Bob’s history
THE remake
Dabbled – liked – shiny object - outsourced
Every SEO trick ever seen & more!
So it turns out Bob had a lot of content
Used every trick in the book – including some I’d never seen!
Aggressive strategy of dominating search – and it worked
Accepted my points but…
I’m a smoker. I know…
Right now I’m riding that wave & will continue
Google’s first shot at crappy results. Panda Nov 2011. Day of reckoning (but this still was not the mine).
G trying to get rid of poor quality results. That simple.
200+ pages fixed, but I worried there are other issues. “Still a smoker – will deal with tomorrow tomorrow”
Curiosity landed
Dodgy links.
This time it was really bad
6/800 -> single figures. Staff laid off.
1st sweep: 10,000+ links 3 yrs+ to make a dent
What is a toxic link – explain did not come from us!
Bob shaken up. One thing to know day of reckoning will come
No more dodgy links… but has moved onto content.
Bob’s problems weren’t about specifics of links. It went deeper.
More about riding waves in general – went far beyond SEO
Me vs. Dad. QUANTITY increased
Prob 1 – quality replaced by quantity
THE PROBLEM PART 2:
Shouting doesn’t work. Online or off. So we encourage other people to shout for us.
The myth of amplification
beginner’s guide to content marketing
KS talk with absurd photos and unlikely conversations
The tide is starting to turn – ppl don’t like being deceived. Who knew? Prob 2: blindly following others
Human nature: “I know…”
Epiphany marketing & shiny new object syndrome. Something that we ONLY see online. 3rd problem.
IN THE REAL WORLD there are rules
We judge by appearance, and first impressions play a big part
By what we’re doing
By our perceived reputation
By the image that we give off
By the messages that we send
And how we hold ourselves
We judge by appearance, and first impressions play a big part
Countless conversations – many of which will define 1st (and strongest) impression
My Brit accent gives me an advantage (no sarcasm) – as all things British are…
The online world is in this world!
Guess what – being horrible online is being horrible
Even on Twitter
Why do we think that shoving is better than interrupting?
Because we already know that shouting doesn’t work…
Asked to speak at BoS – genuine honour & privilege
Could have done this
Or fantastic
Time filler. But…
What a wasted opportunity – to share ideas.
As is every piece of content you ever write. Every single one an opportunity.
When Joanna from CH asked me if I wanted to write a blog post for their site, I spent many hours on creating tailored content for her audience. This wasn’t the easy option.
I could have gone for an easier option with a cool headline. Because the cool headlines work! But…
The obvious argument to all this…
The spam model – wow, same argument applies!
Pollution and self-inflicted deluge -> drowning. Not toxic but full of garbage! Swimming in rubbish. Familiar?
Attack on clarity
All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again.
Infinite loop: IN SEO find flaws, exploits, G slaps, find next opportunity
Maybe “DO NO EVIL” is a warning? Pretty crappy moral compass if you ask me
Ideas that work -> clever -> mainstream -> quantity… (SLIDERS ON WEB PAGE) The Ultimate Arms Race
Spam = bombards your inbox. And it works. Kind of.
Inbound = bombard your world. And it works. Kind of.
Either way you’re drowning people in content that they don’t want.
Option I: the easy way
Option II: The Seth Godin model
Right here! Search for DC, SG, JS – yes I’m that good at SEO
Daily posts – often under a few hundred words. HIGH quality.
Also the most profound statement I’ve ever read – more later.
The Joanna Wiebe model
You have choices – but the easiest may be the most tempting
BAD HABITS ARE EASY TO ACQUIRE – but we (in this room) are not like most people. We can do better. We are better.
Other people’s ideas are alluring.
Borrowing them is deceptive. (Cuckoos Egg)
Consequences of handling the issues of others
Repackaging, regurgitating, really?
“HARD IS GOOD” (easy doesn’t mean good/best)
Exercise
Creativity
Growth
Learning
Changing
Stop hacking!
“learn to be a Doctor in 7 days”???
Don’t default to shortcuts
This talk -> own organic identity -> changed GD to every two weeks
NEW CLEAN CONTENT
Ideas that should be set free & shared
vs
only sharing other people’s thoughts & opinions
homeopathy
YOU ARE UNIQUE!
Nobody experiences the world like you!
Tap into it – don’t fake it. Shelves that look? No arguing?
Because it isn’t difficult to spot the real thing when you see
THE SOLUTION
Good quality content that must be set free
Kill your content calendar – before it kills your reputation.
Or your ideas will become lost and you’ll feel trapped in a self-inflicted jail
Only use Google for research
dis/proving ideas
Reinforcing
Refuting
Not for content pillaging. And here’s that quote I promised…
But it’s not G, it’s how we use it
Content because there’s something to say… Peldi’s talk last year was his best – fantastically authentic story. Original. Fascinating.
So guess what happens next?
Links happen when there’s content worth linking to
Unlikely conversations like this one might actually happen
Social sharing happens when there’s something to share – let the system work for you!
1st guiding constant principle:
2nd guiding principle: signals – just like the real world!
Plan, research and write for: (1) humans (2) Google
BOB: Agreed but… this still works
Quantity doesn’t even come into it. And in terms of data…
Another bubble is forming and will burst. Guess what will happen to companies who rely on rubbishcontent to generate buzz to sustain inherently flawed businesses?
Now the metrics – because most of us are driven by metrics
The issue of metrics – common sense kicks in
common sense
vs
data
“Step away from the arms race”
Gets the heart pumping but you don’t get anywhere
The problems in riding waves (like Bob): when they crash
Sailing straight
“I know it’s not easy.
At the very least pause and think of the benefits.”